LOCAL NEWS
JOHN ELLIOTT:
WESTERN SPRINGS TREE MASSACRE... GOING GOING GONE...
Wanton destruction of the already regenerating under storey of native trees in Western Springs forest a disgrace as our planet faces apocalypse. If ever there was a local example of American environmentalist Gus Speth’s fears for human existence, the devastation of the native forest at Western Springs is a classic. Speth said, “I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. But I was wrong. “The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation and we scientists don’t know how to do that.”
36 PONSONBY NEWS+ June 2021
Speth would be devastated by the chainsaw massacre occurring in the Western Springs forest, and like me would blame the bureaucrats who have pushed for it, and the politicians who allowed this. A convenient lie has been built up that Western Springs forest action is actually about a native restoration project. It is not. It is about the wanton and frightening destruction of an already regenerating native forest. There are thousands of substantial natives in the understorey, and already in building the road in to facilitate extraction, Council has smashed hundreds of these, including 15-20 feet kauri and pohutukawa.
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